Dental materials are often prepared from mixing individually stored components. There are dental mixing and dispensing devices which can automatically mix components to form a usable dental material, and which can further dispense such a material in suitable portions for use. Typically these dental mixing and dispensing devices have a receptacle for receiving the components, and are typically adapted to continuously supply amounts of the components into a mixer. Within the mixer the materials are normally continuously mixed and dispensed as further components are supplied into the mixer. An exemplary device for mixing and dispensing a dental impression material is for example available under the designation 3M™ ESPE™ Pentamix™ from 3M ESPE AG, Germany.
Because a variety of different types of dental materials are available on the market such a dental mixing and dispensing device desirably can work with various different materials without substantially changing the configuration of the device. However there is a plurality of different mixers on the market which are specifically optimized for mixing certain specific materials or for providing a certain mixing quality. Further often so-called dynamic mixers are used which typically have a mixing rotor which can be motor driven. The mixing rotor is typically arranged in a mixing barrel and mixes the components as they flow though the barrel.
For example EP 1 510 249 discloses a mixer for dental impression material. The mixer has a mixer body accommodating a mixing rod that carries stirring blades. Components of a dental impression material can flow through the body and are mixed by the stirring blades which rotate in a plane laterally to the flow of the components. The blades are arranged at a predetermined positional interval along an axial direction of the rod and at a uniform positional interval circumferentially around the rod. The axial interval between two downstream blades is wider than the axial interval between further upstream blades. Thus the dental impression material gets mixed before it reaches the wider interval where it shall completely fill the space between the stirring rod and the mixer body to avoid air getting included in the mixture.
DE10112904 discloses a dynamic mixer for mixing at least two paste components of different volume proportions. The mixer comprises a housing with at least two inlet openings and at least one outlet opening, a mixer element being rotatably mounted in a mixing chamber of said housing. The housing has at least one delay chamber comprising a limiting wall that blocks the paste stream in the direction of flow and at least one opening that opens into the mixing chamber, said opening(s) being set back in relation to the limiting wall. The mixer is particularly suitable for mixing paste components with a relatively high viscosity of.
There are further mixers on the market. However there is still a desire to provide a mixer which can mix a multiplicity of different materials at sufficient mixing quality. There is further a desire that such a mixer is relatively inexpensive.